Jeremiah 50
50
Prophecies against Babylon
1This is the word the Lord spoke about Babylon,#Is 13:1 the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:
2Announce to the nations;
proclaim and raise up a signal flag;#Ps 60:4; Is 5:26; 18:3
proclaim, and hide nothing.
Say, “Babylon is captured;
Bel#Is 46:1; Jr 51:44 is put to shame;
Marduk is terrified.”
Her idols are put to shame;
her false gods, devastated.
3For a nation from the north will attack her;#Is 41:25; Jr 1:13–15; 6:1,22; 47:2; 50:9,41; 51:48
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it —
both people and animals will escape.#50:3 Lit escape; they will walk#Ps 135:8; Jr 7:20; 21:6; 32:43; 33:10,12; 36:29; 51:62
4In those days and at that time —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
the Israelites and Judeans will come together,#Is 11:12–13; Jr 3:18; Ezk 37:15–22; Hs 11:1
weeping as they come,
and will seek the Lord their God.#2Ch 11:16; 15:4; Hs 3:5
5They will ask about Zion,
turning their faces to this road.
They will come and join themselves#50:5 LXX; MT reads Come and join yourselves to the Lord
in a permanent covenant#Gn 9:16; 17:7,13,19; Is 55:3; 61:8; Jr 32:40; Ezk 16:60; 37:26 that will never be forgotten.
6My people were lost sheep;#Is 53:6
their shepherds led them astray,#Jr 23:2,13
guiding them the wrong way in the mountains.#Ezk 34:6
They wandered from mountain to hill;
they forgot their resting place.
7Whoever found them devoured them.
Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;
instead, they have sinned against the Lord,
their righteous grazing land,#Jr 31:23; 40:2–3
the hope of their ancestors,#Jr 14:8; 17:13 the Lord.”
8Escape from Babylon;#Jr 51:6; Rv 18:4
depart from the Chaldeans’ land.
Be like the rams that lead the flock.
9For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon#Jr 51:1,11,29,35
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;#Jr 6:23; 50:14,42; 51:27
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like a skilled#50:9 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read bereaving warrior
who does not return empty-handed.
10The Chaldeans will become plunder;
all Babylon’s plunderers will be fully satisfied.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11Because you rejoice,
because you celebrate —
you who plundered my inheritance —
because you frolic like a young cow treading grain
and neigh like stallions,#Jdg 5:22; Jr 8:16; 47:3
12your mother#Jr 2:31; 51:47; Hs 2:4–5 will be utterly humiliated;
she who bore you will be put to shame.
Look! She will lag behind all#50:12 Lit Look! The last of the nations —
an arid wilderness, a desert.#Jr 51:43
13Because of the Lord’s wrath,
she will not be inhabited;
she will become a desolation, every bit of her.
Everyone who passes through Babylon
will be appalled
and scoff because of all her wounds.#Dt 28:37; 2Ch 29:8; 30:7; Jr 5:30; 18:16; 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 42:18; 44:12,22; 49:17; Mc 6:16; Zph 2:15
14Line up in battle formation around Babylon,
all you archers!
Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,
for she has sinned against the Lord.
15Raise a war cry against her on every side!
She has thrown up her hands in surrender;
her defense towers have fallen;
her walls are demolished.#Jr 51:58
Since this is the Lord’s vengeance,#Jr 46:10
take your vengeance on her;
as she has done, do the same to her.
16Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor’s sword,#Jr 46:16
each will turn to his own people,#Is 13:14
each will flee to his own land.
The Return of God’s People
17Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions.#Jr 2:15; 4:7
The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria;
the last who crushed his bones
was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.#2Kg 24:10–12; 25:1–7
18Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to punish the king of Babylon#Is 10:12 and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19I will return Israel to his grazing land,#Jr 22:6; 23:3; 33:12; Ezk 34:14
and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied
in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.#Is 33:9; Mc 7:14; Nah 1:4
20In those days and at that time —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
one will search for Israel’s iniquity,
but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins,
but they will not be found,
for I will forgive#Nm 14:20; Jr 31:34; 36:3 those I leave as a remnant.#Jr 39:10; 52:16; Zph 3:12
The Invasion of Babylon
21Attack the land of Merathaim,
and those living in Pekod.
Put them to the sword;
completely destroy them —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
do everything I have commanded you.#1Kg 9:4; 2Kg 21:8; 2Ch 7:17
22The sound of war is in the land#Jr 51:54–56 —
a crushing blow!
23How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and smashed!
What a horror Babylon has become
among the nations!#Jr 51:41
24Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught,#Jr 51:31; Dn 5:30–31
but you did not even know it.
You were found and captured
because you pitted yourself against the Lord.
25The Lord opened his armory
and brought out his weapons of wrath,#Is 13:5
because it is a task of the Lord God of Armies
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26Come against her from the most distant places.#50:26 Lit from the end
Open her granaries;
pile her up like mounds of grain
and completely destroy her.
Leave her no survivors.
27Put all her young bulls to the sword;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them because their day has come,
the time of their punishment.#Is 10:3; Jr 46:21; Ezk 21:25,29; Hs 5:9; Mc 7:4; 2Pt 2:9
The Humiliation of Babylon
28There is a voice of fugitives and refugees
from the land of Babylon.
The voice announces in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
the vengeance for his temple.#2Kg 18:16; 23:4; 24:13; Jr 51:11
29Summon the archers to Babylon,
all who string the bow;
camp all around her; let none escape.
Repay her according to her deeds;#Ps 28:4; Pr 24:12,29; Jr 25:14; 50:29; 51:24; Lm 3:64
just as she has done, do the same to her,
for she has acted arrogantly against the Lord,
against the Holy One of Israel.#Ps 71:22; Is 1:4; 37:23; Jr 51:5
30Therefore, her young men will fall
in her public squares;
all the warriors will perish in that day.
This is the Lord’s declaration.#Jr 49:26
31Look, I am against you, you arrogant one —
this is the declaration of
the Lord God of Armies —
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32The arrogant will stumble and fall#Ps 27:2; Pr 24:16–17; Is 3:8; 8:15; 31:3
with no one to pick him up.
I will set fire to his cities,
and it will consume everything around him.#Jr 21:14
The Desolation of Babylon
33This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed.
All their captors hold them fast;#2Ch 28:11; 30:9; Is 14:17; 61:1; Jr 13:17
they refuse to release them.
34Their Redeemer is strong;
the Lord of Armies is his name.
He will fervently champion their cause#1Sm 24:15; Pr 23:11; Is 47:4; Jr 51:36
so that he might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.#Mc 4:10
35A sword is over the Chaldeans —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
against those who live in Babylon,
against her officials, and against her sages.
36A sword is against the diviners,
and they will act foolishly.
A sword is against her heroic warriors,
and they will be terrified.
37A sword is against his horses and chariots
and against all the foreigners among them,#Ex 12:38; Neh 13:1–3; Jr 25:20
and they will be like women.#Is 19:16; Jr 48:41; 51:30; Nah 3:13
A sword is against her treasuries,
and they will be plundered.
38A drought will come on her waters,
and they will be dried up.
For it is a land of carved images,
and they go mad because of terrifying things.#50:38 Or of dreaded gods#Ex 15:16; 23:27; Jb 20:25
39Therefore, desert creatures#50:39 Or desert demons will live with hyenas,
and ostriches will also live in her.
It will never again be inhabited
or lived in through all generations.#Is 13:20–21; 34:13–14
40Just as God demolished Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighboring towns#Gn 19:24–25 —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
so no one will live there;
no human being will stay in it even temporarily
as a temporary resident.#Jr 49:18–21,33
The Conquest of Babylon
41Look! A people comes from the north.#Jr 6:22–24; 49:24
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.#Jr 6:22; 25:32; 31:8
42They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,#Is 5:30; 17:12
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard about them;
his hands have become weak.
Distress has seized him —
pain, like a woman in labor.#Ps 48:6; Is 13:8; 21:3; 42:14; Jr 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 49:24; Mc 4:9–10; 1Th 5:3
44“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets#50:44 Lit pride#Ps 10:9; 17:12; Is 5:29; Jr 2:15; 5:6; 12:5; 25:38; 50:17; Zch 11:3 of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Babylon#50:44 Lit them away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me? Who will issue me a summons? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?”
45Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans:#Jr 51:29 Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them. 46At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.#Jr 49:19–21
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Jeremiah 50: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 50
50
Prophecy against Babylon
1This is what the LORD said concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians through the prophet Jeremiah:
2Tell the nations;
proclaim it far and wide!
Set up a flag;
proclaim it far and wide!
Hold nothing back;
just shout it:
“Babylon is captured;
Bel is shamed;
Marduk is panic-stricken.
Her images are shamed;
her idols are panic-stricken.”
3A nation from the north
has risen up against her.
It will decimate her land,
and no one will live in it.
Every living thing will flee.
4In those days and at that time,
declares the LORD,
the people of Israel and Judah
will come out of Babylon#50.4 Heb lacks of Babylon. together;
with weeping they will leave
as they seek the LORD their God.
5They will search for Zion,
turning their faces toward it.
They will come#50.5 Heb uncertain and
unite with the LORD,
in an everlasting covenant
that will never be forgotten.
6My people were lost sheep;
their shepherds led them astray;
they deserted them on the mountains,
where they wandered off among the hills,
forgetting their resting place.
7All who found them devoured them;
and their attackers said,
“It’s not our fault,
because they have sinned against the LORD,
the true pasture,#50.7 Or righteous dwelling place
the hope of their ancestors—the LORD.”
8Now wander far from Babylon.
Get out of that country.
Like rams of the flock,
lead the way home.
9I’m stirring up against Babylon
a coalition of mighty nations.
It will mobilize in the north,
and from there she will be captured.
Their arrows are like those of an expert archer
who does not return empty-handed.
10Babylon will be defeated;
its attackers will carry off all that they want,
declares the LORD.
11Sure, you gloat and rejoice,
you plunderers of my possession.
Sure, you dance around like a calf
and neigh like a stallion.
12But Mother Babylon#50.12 Or your mother will be humiliated;
the one who bore you will be disgraced.
She will become the least of the nations:
a wilderness, a desert, and parched land.
13Because of the LORD’s anger,
no one will live there;
she will be reduced to total ruin.
All who pass by Babylon will be shocked;
they will gasp at all her injuries.
14Take up your positions around Babylon,
all you archers;
now shoot at her;
save none of your arrows,
because she’s sinned against the LORD.
15Raise a victory shout against her on every side!
She’s surrendered;
her towers have collapsed;
her walls are destroyed.
This is the LORD’s retribution;
now pay her back:
do to her what she’s done to others!
16Cut Babylon off from those who plant
and those who harvest the crops,
because of its ruthless sword.#50.16 Heb uncertain
Now return, all of you, to your people;
flee to your homeland!
17Israelites are scattered sheep,
driven away by lions.
First the king of Assyria devoured them,
and now Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar has ravaged them.#50.17 Or gnawed their bones
18Therefore, the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
I’m going to punish the king of Babylon and his land,
just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19But I will restore Israel to their pasture;
they will graze on Carmel and Bashan;
they will eat their fill
in the highlands of Ephraim and Gilead.
20In those days and at that time,
declares the LORD,
if one searches for the sin of Israel,
they will find nothing;
if one seeks out the wrongdoing of Judah,
they will look in vain.
I will forgive those I have spared.
21Attack the land of Merathaim;#50.21 Or Double rebellion
crush those living in Pekod.
Ruin and destroy them,
declares the LORD;
do all I have commanded you.
22There’s the sound of war in the land
and enormous devastation.
23How the hammer of the whole earth
has been broken and shattered into pieces!
How Babylon has become a wasteland
among the nations!
24You set a trap for others, Babylon,#50.24 Or I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were
but you yourself were caught in it unaware;
you have been found and captured
because you have defied the LORD.
25The LORD has opened his arsenal
and brought out his brutal weapons.
The LORD God of heavenly forces
has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians.
26Come against her from every side;
throw open her granaries;
pile her up like stalks of grain;
totally destroy her;
leave nothing intact.
27Destroy all her bulls;
prepare them for slaughter.
How terrible for them!
Their time has come,
the day of reckoning.
28A voice of fugitives and refugees,
from the land of Babylon,
declaring in Zion
the retribution of the LORD our God
because of what has been done to his temple.
29Send the archers against Babylon,
all who draw the bow!
Surround her
and let no one escape.
Pay her back for her deeds;
do to her what she’s done to others.
She has acted arrogantly toward the LORD,
the holy one of Israel!
30Therefore, her soldiers will fall in the streets;
all her warriors will be silenced on that day,
declares the LORD.
31I’m against you, you arrogant one!
declares the LORD God of heavenly forces.
Your day has come,
your time of reckoning.
32The arrogant one will stumble and fall,
and no one will help her up.
I’ll set your cities on fire,
and it will consume all that’s around her.
33The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims:
The people of Israel were oppressed,
together with the people of Judah.
Their captors held them
and refused to let them go.
34Yet their redeemer is strong;
the LORD of heavenly forces is his name.
He will surely defend their cause
and give them rest in the land.
But he will unsettle the people of Babylon.
35A sword against Babylon and its people,
declares the LORD,
along with its officials and sages.
36A sword against its diviners
so that they become fools.
A sword against its warriors
so that they are terrified.
37A sword against its horses and chariots,
and the mercenaries#50.37 Or foreigners in its midst
so that they lose courage.#50.37 Or become like women
A sword against its treasures
so that they are looted.
38A sword#50.38 Or A drought against the water supplies
so that they dry up.
It is truly the land of idols,
idols about which they have gone utterly mad!
39Therefore, Babylon will become a ghost town,
a place for desert animals,
hyenas, and ravenous birds.#50.39 Heb uncertain
No one will live there again;
no one will make it their home.
40Just as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
declares the LORD,
so no one will live in Babylon
or settle there again.
41Look! An army is on the move
from the northern regions.
A powerful nation and many kings are coming
from the ends of the earth.
42Equipped with bow and spear,
they are cruel and show no mercy.
Their horsemen sound like the roaring sea,
arrayed in battle formation against you,
Daughter Babylon.
43The king of Babylon has heard reports of them
and is panic-stricken;
distress overwhelms him,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
44Like a lion coming up from
the jungle of the Jordan
to a well-watered meadow,#50.44 Heb uncertain
so I will suddenly chase down Babylon
and single out its choicest of rams.
Who is like me?
Who can direct me?
What shepherd can withstand me?
45Therefore, listen to the counsel
that the LORD has for Babylon
and the plans he’s devised
against the land of Babylon:
The little ones of the flock
will be dragged off,
as their pasture watches
in utter disbelief.#50.45 Heb uncertain
46The earth quakes
at the sound of Babylon’s capture;
its screams echo throughout the world.
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